EPA Oral Hearing

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will begin an oral hearing in Dublin on Monday 14th April 2008.

The oral hearing has been convened by the EPA to listen to objections and concerns about its Proposed Decision to licence Dublin City Council to operate a non hazardous waste incinerator at Pigeon House Road, Poolbeg Peninsula, Dublin 4 and will take place in the Anna Livia Ballroom, Gresham Hotel, O'Connell Street, Dublin at 10am.

If approved, the Proposed Decision provides for the operation of an incinerator with a maximum annual intake of 600,000 tonnes of residual non-hazardous waste.

Anyone who lodged a valid objection has an automatic right to attend and to participate fully at the hearing. Fourteen valid objections were made to the proposed decision, including one from the applicant. The hearing is open to the public.

Following the Oral Hearing, a report and recommendation will be submitted to the EPA Board and a final decision on whether or not to grant a licence will be made.

As the statutory licensing process is a quasi judicial function, the EPA is, therefore, not in a position to comment on the specifics of the licence application or its consideration by the EPA.

For more information on the Proposed Decision for the Poolbeg facility - Click Here

The objection procedures are set out in Regulations and details of these can be found on the EPA website - Click Here

How the licensing process works -

1. Given the complexity and scale of some waste activities, the EPA provides pre-application clarification and consultation so that applications are as complete as possible.
2. Once received, the application is rigorously assessed by a team of experts from the EPA's Office of Climate, Licensing and Resource Use.
3. Extra information may be required from the applicant during this assessment.
4. When the application is deemed complete and has been fully assessed, the EPA's Office of Climate, Licensing and Resource Use makes a recommendation on the application to the Board of Directors of the EPA.
5. The Board assesses the recommendation - together with the application and all submissions - before making a decision.
6. The Board's decision, in the form of a Proposed Decision, is notified to the applicant, all third parties who made a submission on the application and other statutory consultees.
7. There follows a 28-day period when any person can submit an objection and request an oral hearing. They can also make submissions on other objections.
8. All objections and submissions on objections are considered by a Technical Committee of the EPA or through an oral hearing process.
9. Should the EPA decide to hold an oral hearing, any person who lodged a valid objection, as well as the applicant, has an automatic right to attend and participate fully at a hearing.

All hearings are open to the public. Members of the public can participate in the proceedings where they have lodged a valid objection or with the express approval of the Chairperson.

10. On completion of an oral hearing, the Chairperson will submit a report of the hearing to the EPA. In this report, the Chairperson must make a recommendation to grant or refuse a licence.

Where the recommendation is to grant a licence, the Chairperson must outline the recommended conditions to be attached to the licence.

11. The recommendations arising - together with the objections and submissions - are considered by the Board of Directors before making a final decision to either refuse a licence or to grant a licence with or without conditions.
12. The EPA is debarred in law from granting a waste licence, unless it is satisfied that the activity concerned, carried out in accordance with such conditions as may be attached to a licence, will not cause environmental pollution.

Chronology of application -

* Applicant - Dublin City Council
* Address of facility - Pigeon House Road, Poolbeg Peninsula, Dublin 4
* Application received - 10th July, 2006
* Submissions - A total of 18 valid submissions were received from third parties
* Proposed decision - issued 21st November 2007
* Closing date for objections - 18th December 2007
* Objections received - 14 valid objections
* Oral hearing Start Date - 14th April 2008 at 10.00am – Anna Livia Ballroom, Gresham Hotel, O'Connell St., Dublin.

ww.buckplanning.ie